This semester I was very pleased to say the least with my “Explore Columbus” outings with my ACES mentees. I got to go to not one, but two different coffee shops! What could be better than that? When my second lovely mentee, Elizabeth Croop, expressed interest in checking out Roaming Goat Coffee, I happily agreed, as I am a coffee fanatic!

A love of coffee is something Elizabeth and I both share. She actually wanted to try Roaming Goat Coffee as she is participating in the Columbus Coffee Trail challenge! For the Columbus Coffee Trail, you get a card with a list of all of the participating shops in the area. Each time you visit one of the locations, you receive a stamp to show that you have gone! By visiting each coffee shop and collecting stamps, you have the chance to earn a Columbus Coffee Trail t-shirt and mug! Roaming Goat Coffee was next on Elizabeth’s list and just a short COTA ride down to the Short North, so that is where we headed!

Elizabeth is actually quite the coffee expert herself, as she used to work as a barista in her hometown! I myself am slowly learning the ins and outs of the coffee world, as I have recently become an avid coffee drinker. It would be my dream summer job to work as a barista! With her previous Coffee Trail experiences as well as being from the area, Elizabeth was able to recommend to me some of her favorite nearby coffee shops! Her favorite she has visited as part of the trail has been The Roosevelt Coffee house! In addition, she recommends Pistacia Vera. In specific, she adores their “chocolate bomb” pastry!

Roaming Goat Coffee features various specialty coffees using Arabica beans from around the world. The Roaming Goat had a nice selection of drinks to choose from. I ordered a Mayan mocha while Elizabeth opted for a cold brew coffee. The drinks were absolutely gorgeous! The Mayan mocha was actually a specialty seasonal drink. It was delicious, but surprisingly spicy!

After grabbing our drinks, we were able to find a cozy corner to enjoy our coffee in and catch up. As the end of the semester is wrapping up, Elizabeth and I discussed our summer plans! Elizabeth will be babysitting this summer, something she has extensive experience with! She will also be dog sitting and working at Target. We both detailed our past retail and food service summer jobs! She explained that she has built quite the job resume over the years, working everywhere from McDonald’s to her local pool. We came to the consensus that these jobs can be fun, but also hard work! This summer I am hoping to babysit as well, something that will offer very relevant experience in our future jobs as speech language pathologists!

This summer Elizabeth also plans on spending a lot of time with her boyfriend before he starts his job at a summer camp! Elizabeth’s boyfriend goes to Mount Vernon for college, so she is in a long distance relationship with him! Luckily she gets to see him quite often!

I am certain that I will be visiting Roaming Goat Coffee again! That being said, I would potentially recommend other ACEs to look elsewhere for an “Explore Columbus” outing location if they want to go to a coffee shop, as it was pretty quiet in the café, with the majority of the customers working on laptops. This made me feel a bit guilty chatting with Elizabeth, as I did not want to disturb them! However, this makes the Roaming Goat café the perfect place for me to do homework in the future if I need a break from campus!

Elizabeth has inspired me to also attempt the Columbus Coffee trail! Looking at the coffee trail list, I did not realize how many different shops are in close proximity to campus! In this coming fall semester, I will have a very flexible schedule, with no classes on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday! It is my goal to use this time to explore more of Columbus, and what better way to do that than in the form of visiting the various coffee shops? What I have found is that each location offers a unique experience as opposed to a chain coffee company. This is just one reason why it is so important to support local business! By attempting the Columbus Coffee Trail, I will not only be learning more about the city, but I will be able to build my coffee knowledge at the same time!

As part of the Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars mentorship program, I get the pleasure of exploring the amazing city of Columbus with my mentees. When Abby Wuichner suggested checking out Kafe Kerouac, I was delighted, as it has always been on my bucket list to visit. Kafe Kerouac is a homey coffee shop on North High Street, not far from campus.

So, on a Sunday afternoon Abby and I hopped on a COTA bus and headed to Kafe Kerouac. When we arrived I instantly fell in love with the unique little spot. Used books and records that were for sale lined the walls. In addition, their collection included many local writers and comic book artists, adding to the diverse selection.

Kafe Kerouac’s menu featured house special coffee beverages named after famous authors. I ordered a “Dr. Seuss” latte, which contained hazelnut, almond, and peanut butter flavor, which I paired with a delicious muffin. Dr. Seuss just so happens to be one of my favorite children’s authors, so it was very fitting! Abby also enjoyed a baked good, ordering a homemade brownie. Continuing with the café’s relaxed aesthetic, all of the coffee was served in different mismatched mugs.

Abby and I took a seat in the side room of the café and enjoyed our treats. Not only did I get to drink a great delicious latte, but I got to catch up with Abby and hear about how her semester has been progressing. Abby updated me on her field experience for her Special Education major. She has had a wonderful time getting hands-on experience in the Columbus schools, but as the year is winding down she will also be glad to have completed all of her hours, as she has to get up very early in the morning to go to Worthington! I learned that beyond helping in the classroom, Abby has gotten the opportunity to complete a project in combination with her field experience program. For this project, she focused on compiling all of the materials that the teacher she is shadowing is using so it is all in one accessible place.

Abby and I also discussed our summer plans, as we are quite antsy to be finished this semester! Abby will be working at a daycare that she has helped at for the past few years, something that she truly enjoys due to the relationships she has formed with the kids. In addition, her old principal asked her to tutor this summer! Abby is undoubtedly going to gain some very relevant experience this year for her future career!

After our snack, Abby and I explored the many overflowing bookshelves of the café. I could have looked for hours! I found some very beautiful copies of classic books. Abby and I are both book lovers, so this was the perfect place for us to visit. I am hoping to catch up on my reading this summer after the craziness of this semester is finished! Abby and I share a passion for used books and antiques. As we were talking, she recommended me a bookstore in Clintonville that I plan to go to soon! She explained that the bookstore is packed to the brim with stacks of old books and that one must do a lot of digging to find what you are looking for! I think I am up for the challenge!

Instead of taking a COTA bus back to Smith-Steeb Hall, we decided to walk back and enjoy the lovely weather! It was the first day of this spring that showed signs of things warming up! It was nice to finally enjoy the outdoors for once instead of being bundled up in layers of coats and hats!

I would most definitely recommend Kafe Kerouac to others. It is my hope to come back in the near future, as it would be the perfect peaceful space to study for exams or simply hang out with friends. Next time I would like to try the “Roald Dahl” or “Jane Austen” latte, two other drinks I was eyeing! In addition, I am very interested in attending one of the many poetry slams that take place here! I feel so lucky to call Columbus my second home, as there are so many interesting places to explore. In specific, I think it is very important to traverse businesses that are local to Columbus because neighborhood establishments offer a more unique, personal experience that you likely can’t find elsewhere. I think Kafe Kerouac would be a great place for other ACEs to visit as well. I would recommend going early, as by the time we left there was quite the line to get a literary figure inspired latte!

Abby Wuichner

In continuation with my Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars mentorship program, I had the pleasure of conducting a second-semester interview with my amazing mentee Abby Wuichner. Through this follow up interview, I was able to see how much Abby has truly grown over her first year here at Ohio State. She has developed her confidence, and found an incredible passion for her major!

Abby could not be happier as a Special Education major! This semester she has had the opportunity to become completely immersed in this area of study through her field experience class. Many of my friends are education majors as well, so I was fairly familiar with the program. Abby has been placed at Worthington Schools in Columbus, working at the special education learning center. Abby works under an instructor who specializes in language arts. Abby gets to interact with students with ADHD and dyslexia. Overall Abby is having a very positive experience with her field placement, and her excitement for her future career is apparent. Abby’s time at Worthington Schools has affirmed that a career in special education is what she truly wants to pursue. She explained that it is encouraging to see that her dream job does indeed exist with the population she is interested in working with. In the fall my mentee will be facing the challenge of applying to get into her major. She will find out the spring semester of next year if she gets in! It is a competitive program, but Abby is feeling confident!

In addition, Abby has declared a minor in psychology this semester that will be a perfect pairing with her major! Abby and I discussed how to manage the extra work associated with a minor, as I have two additional minors myself! I am confident that Abby will be more than capable of handling the extra coursework, as she has a good balance of academic and extracurricular involvement. Minors are a fantastic way to enrich one’s education and make you stand out from other students!

Abby has been kept very busy with her field experience, as she has to go to her school four days a week. That being said, that has not stopped her from staying involved on campus. Notably, Abby participates in the Pen Pals program. I am fortunate that I got the chance to talk to Abby about Pen Pals, because it is something that I am interested in taking part in next year myself! Abby has enjoyed her time with the program, explaining that it is not a huge time commitment but gives you the opportunity to really get the know the student you correspond with! This year the ACES scholars offered a volunteer opportunity in collaboration with Pen Pals as well! Next year, Abby has hopes to get involved with a research lab!

Abby has enjoyed her first year as an Advocates for Communities and Education Scholar. This semester she was less overwhelmed by completing her volunteer hours and event requirements. She has loved living in the ACES learning community in Smith-Steeb residence hall. She has met some of her best friends through the program and will be rooming with three other girls she met on the floor in Smith-Steeb next year!

Ultimately, Abby has had a very positive first-year experience here at Ohio State. She feels like the year has flown by but that she has grown a great deal over the course of the academic year. She was most surprised with how much she has genuinely enjoyed her major and instructors. She explained that they have been one of her favorite aspects of OSU.

It has been an absolute joy mentoring Abby through her first year of ACES and seeing her flourish as a new Buckeye. I am positive that we will stay connected for years to come!

Questions:

Are you enjoying your major? Why or why not?

How have you gotten involved on campus?

Have you enjoyed the ACES living-learning community in Smith-Steeb? Why or why not?

Have your career plans changed since your first semester? Why or why not?

What has surprised you about Ohio State since arriving on campus?

Elizabeth Croop

For my Advocates for Communities and Education Scholars Program, I recently got to check in with my second fabulous mentee, Elizabeth Croop. Conducting these interviews has been a genuinely rewarding experience as I have gotten to see both of my mentees bloom during their first year of college, such a special time in one’s life.

Elizabeth is undeniably pleased with her major of speech and hearing science, which I am thrilled about as a fellow future speech language pathologist! Elizabeth is currently enrolled in Phonetics, one of my favorite classes I have ever taken. Elizabeth considers Phonetics to be her most challenging class this semester, attributing its difficulty to its detailed nature. She currently is tackling the section of the course that delves into the topic of diacritics. Studying diacritics can be tricky, for it involves even more precise transcriptions, indicating very specific modifications to sounds. I am more than happy to help Elizabeth with any questions that she may have, as I have declared a linguistics minor this semester and am well versed in the topic!

At the beginning of the semester, Elizabeth expressed interest in being a school speech language pathologist after graduation. In my personal experience, upon coming to OSU I realized that the diversity of the possible careers within Speech and Hearing Science was more vast than anything that I had ever imagined. I wanted to see if she had changed her mind at all in regards to the career path she wanted to follow, as my own interests have indeed shifted. Instead, Elizabeth’s classes have further confirmed that she is still very interested in the school setting, as she is fascinated by language development and likes the flexibility that working in a school offers.

Since the first semester, Elizabeth has found multiple ways to get involved on campus. Notably, she has found a job that is a perfect fit for her, something that she was struggling with in the fall. She works at Uniprint now, Ohio State’s printing service. She works 10 to 15 hours a week but has some downtime at her job where she can get homework done as well!

As we talked about last semester, Elizabeth still has an interest in finding an acapella group or another music-related student organization that she can join next year that will fit into her busy schedule. At a retreat that we both attended in the fall, I had the opportunity to hear Elizabeth’s amazing voice. I truly hope she is able to find a musical outlet because she is incredibly talented!

On top of all of these activities, my mentee is also an active member of our ACES scholars program. She has had a great first year as an ACE! Elizabeth is almost done with completing her semester requirements. She has been accumulating service hours by helping her father with Meals On Wheels. Later this month we plan on attending the last ACES social event together, Grocery Bingo! She was surprised that her favorite part of the experience has been the great people that she has met! She credits the program with connecting her to her roommate, one of her best friends!

In fact, Elizabeth’s favorite part of Ohio State has been the connections she has made with others. Not only through ACES, but through other organizations such as Cru, she has made a lot of new friends! As a result, my mentee has ultimately had a great first year on campus. I am very thankful to be able to consider Elizabeth one of my own friends, and am looking forward to continuing to help her through her journey through her college experience and through the joys and challenges of Speech and Hearing Science!

Questions:

Are you enjoying your major? Why or why not?

What class on your current schedule do you think will be most challenging and why?

How have you gotten involved on campus?

How was your first semester in ACES? What has surprised you about the program?

Have your career plans changed since your first semester? Why or why not?

What has surprised you about Ohio State since arriving on campus?

I am lucky to not only have one mentee, but two, so I had the joy going on two Columbus excursions. My other mentee, Elizabeth Croop, and I decided to grab some ice cream at Simply Rolled Ice Cream in the Short North. We picked this location for our “Explore Columbus” event because we both are ice cream lovers! I was most looking forward to picking out a fun flavor!

We met on Sunday night after RealLife, a sort of weekly worship service for a student Christian organization we are both in called Cru. RealLife is held in the Newport, so we were able to just head over to the bus stop right after! Elizabeth and I had a much easier time with the buses than Abby and I did!

Elizabeth has such a kind heart and brought a “blessing bag” on our trip with us in case we saw any homeless people. A “blessing bag” is typically a bag filled with a mixture of toiletry items and food such as soap, granola bars, and band-aids. Elizabeth’s mom makes the bags and sends them to her. I thought this was such a fantastic idea and would love to make them myself to have on hand. I think it would be such a cool thing to be able to grab a bag before going on an outing to the Short North or downtown Columbus in case I come across someone who needs help! Elizabeth and I ended up finding a presumably homeless woman on the corner of a street we passed. She seemed very thankful for the gesture!

When we got to Simply Rolled, there was a bit of a line, but it just gave us more time to pick out a flavor! I ended up choosing the “Gone Bananas” flavor, which consisted of a vanilla ice cream base with fresh banana and Nutella. I was very happy with my decision, although I was also tempted by the seasonal flavors “Carmel Apple Cobbler” and “Pumpkin Cheesecake,” which I hope I get a chance to try sometime! I think it would also be fun to make your own custom flavor, but I was too overwhelmed by all the options! From there we got to watch the ice cream be made right in front of us! A liquid ice cream is poured on a cold surface. The ingredients are chopped and mixed in. Then the employees used a scraper tool to roll up the ice cream! It was quite amusing because the employee seemed to have accidentally made too large of a batch and had trouble getting it in the cup! But on the plus side, I got extra ice cream!

Elizabeth and I found a place to sit and enjoy our ice cream. I was so happy I had the opportunity to get to know her even more, as we are involved in very similar activities. We discussed an upcoming retreat called “Fall Getaway” through Cru. I was thrilled to learn that Elizabeth, like me, was going! I was very happy to hear that as I had a wonderful experience when I went last year. The retreat takes place at. Round Lake Christian Camp. It consists of a weekend full of worship, fun competitions, and nights staying up late playing board games!

Elizabeth and I also ended up talking about our love of shopping and the abundance of clothes in our closet! I learned that she owns a large number of jeans! I myself am quite guilty of owning way too many sweaters! My mentee then updated me on her current job search. She is interested in finding more babysitting jobs, something I wish to also pursue this summer. In addition, she applied to jobs on campus such as Starbucks.

When we were finished with our treats we headed to the bus stop. Unfortunately, I ended up leaving my hat in the store and we had to run back and get it! After that Elizabeth and I extended our adventure to the new Target on High Street, as she wanted to pick up some more organizers for her dorm room closet.

I had a wonderful evening with my mentee and would most definitely go back to Simply Rolled Ice Cream! My future recommendation would be to be careful about what time I go to this store, as it can get crowded. That being said, it is most definitely worth the wait! It was actually quite a full circle experience taking Elizabeth to Simply Rolled, as last year my ACES mentor Grace took me there! It is crazy to think that I now have a fantastic mentee of my own!

I had the pleasure of going on an “Explore Columbus” excursion with my mentee, Abby Wuichner. Abby and I decide to go to The North Market, as it is one of my favorite spots in Columbus and I found out that Abby had never been! Prior to the trip, I was looking forward to getting some yummy food and getting to know Abby more, both of which ended up happening!

What I had thought was going to be a short COTA bus ride down High Street ended up being an hour-long detour! We knew something was wrong when the bus turned off of High Street, a route the 2 bus is not supposed to take! Turns out there was a detour due to the Columbus marathon! The bus did not stop again until it got to downtown Columbus. At that point we were quite confused and had no idea where the bus would take us, so we decided to get off before we got even more lost! As we made the twenty-five minute walk through the city to the North Market, we joked that we were taking the idea of “exploring Columbus” quite literally. It did in fact end up being quite the fun adventure, walking past all the interesting shops and restaurants downtown. Abby and I talked about if we would like to live in the city in the future or not. We concluded that it would be nice to live in an urban setting like Columbus for a short amount of time, but that we would not want to settle down there. As we walked we passed the Columbus marathon, and we were grateful that although we were slightly lost, we were not running!

After a long, but fun delay, we finally arrived at our destination of the North Market. The North Market is a collection of local food stands and vendors. We investigated all of our options and tried to decide what yummy snacks we wanted! I, being an avid coffee drinker, treated myself to a latté from Stauff’s coffee stand. We then attempted to get some pastries from a bakery stall, but the options were quite picked over, so we made our way over to Brezel, a gourmet pretzel stand. We both purchased some delicious cinnamon sugar pretzels!

After getting our snacks, we headed up to the second level of the building, where there is seating overlooking the main floor. One of the reasons I thought the North Market would be a good option was because I did not know Abby’s food preferences and knew the North Market would have many options! I am glad I suggested the North Market, because one of my other ideas was going to a coffee shop. It turns out Abby does not like coffee! As we ate our goodies, I had the opportunity to get to know Abby more. We actually have a lot more in common than I had imagined!  We both really enjoy DIY projects and crafting! We bonded over our collection of Pinterest boards. As an aspiring special education teacher, Abby is looking forward to making materials and decorations for her classroom. This is also something I am very excited to do if I end up being a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist. I also discovered that Abby is an avid reader. We discussed that there is a used bookstore in Columbus that she could not find anyone to go with. I told her that I would love to go with her sometime, as I also am a big reader!

Our bus problems unfortunately persisted on our trip home. We checked the Transit Bus app as well as the COTA bus stop text number, and both informed us that a bus was indeed coming. After waiting a significant amount of time though, we discovered that was not the case, as the Columbus Marathon had not yet wrapped up. As a result, we ended up walking almost the entire way back. Ironically, a bus came to a stop right as we were walking past it and we hopped on, but it did not do us much good as we were almost back to Smith-Steeb Hall!

Despite our minor transportation issues, I had a great afternoon with Abby! I would most definitely go back to the North Market again, as there are still so many food stands that I want to try. I think we are so lucky to live in a place like Columbus where there are so many interesting places such as the Short North to explore!

Abby Wuichner

My first wonderful mentee is the amazing Abby Wuichner! Abby is a Special Education major and of course, an ACE! Abby decided to study Special Education as the result of her experience working at an afterschool program for kids. After dedicating much of her time there, she fell in love with working with children with special needs. She recognized that her community had limited resources for this population, so she decided she wanted to be the one to help kids like this. Abby’s goal is to become an intervention specialist, but also has potential aspirations to be a cognitive behavioral therapist. As someone who is also interested in working with kids with special needs, I will be able to give my mentee advice about different events and organizations she can get involved in to get the opportunity to gain some more experience!

Abby is enrolled in numerous interesting classes this year! She is taking an Elementary Math class, Children’s Literature, Introduction to Special Education, and two seminar classes. Abby has found her math class to be the most challenging, as it breaks math into its most basic terms, requiring her to think about the subject in new ways. For example, they started the class by learning how to explain counting to kids! I was very intrigued by Abby’s Children’s Literature class. She reads children’s book and gives a sort of lesson on them in the form of a presentation. It would be incredible if I could take a similar class in the future!

On top of all of her classes, Abby is an Advocates for Children and Education Scholar. She choose ACES because she wanted to be involved in a program specializing in education as well as service! Abby is a little worried about getting all of her volunteer requirements done each semester, as she was used to doing twenty hours a year in high school, not in just one semester. That being said, Abby is not daunted by the task! She has even signed up for Social Change, as discussed at our community meeting! I will be more than happy to help Abby find other volunteer opportunities! I suggested to her that if she needs more hours, she should check out Pay It Forward, an organization that I have done a lot of work with in the past. They have a lot of one time volunteer events and trips that are perfect for the schedule of a busy college student. This semester I would love to be able to do a volunteering event such as one of these with Abby!

In the future, Abby has hopes of joining a choir here at Ohio State! She was very involved in high school with her school and church choir as well as school musicals. Abby says she misses these activities and wants to try out next semester for some student organizations here on campus! In addition, we talked about how Abby participated in a Sign Language Club in high school, as I am currently taking an American Sign Language Class! Abby would love to explore related opportunities here on campus.

Abby is doing a phenomenal job at balancing her academic and extracurricular involvement. As a result of her accumulating a lot of college credit prior to coming to Ohio State, she is able to not take an overwhelming amount of credit hours each semester! In addition, she has consciously not signed up for too many student organizations, a mistake many first year students make! Due to having some extra time in her schedule, my mentee wants to pursue a psychology minor. I am looking forward to seeing what this year has in store for my incredible mentee, and being right by her side along the way!

Elizabeth Croop 

This year, I have been given the amazing opportunity to not only have one mentee, but two! My other equally wonderful mentee is Elizabeth Croop! Elizabeth and I have some uncanny similarities. Aside from sharing the same name, we are both Speech and Hearing Science majors. To top it all off, she is currently living in the dorm room that I had last year! Interestingly enough, my amazing mentor last year, Grace Schlaack, lived in that room as well! So Elizabeth is a third generation ACES mentee from that exact room in Smith- Steeb Hall!

Elizabeth’s inspiration for choosing Speech and Hearing Science was her eight-year-old brother, Oliver.  Oliver has Autism, and as a result Elizabeth has been there right by his side through all kinds of therapy. This is how Elizabeth was introduced to Speech Language Pathology, as her brother was nonverbal until he was 18 months old. Elizabeth plans on becoming a school Speech Language Pathologist. She is especially attracted to this setting, as it will allow for a more flexible work schedule as she has hopes of having kids in the future.  As a future Speech Language Pathologist myself, I am always eager to hear others’ aspirations as I have not get decided where I want my career to take me in this diverse field.

Elizabeth is taking a variety of classes this semester including Sociology and French. She is taking Introduction to Communications Disorders, a class I took for one of our major requirements last year. Elizabeth finds this class challenging but super interesting. In the future, I would be more than happy to give Elizabeth some pointers for her Speech and Hearing classes or even help her study. I understand that some of the courses can be overwhelming, and as her mentor I would love to be able to guide in her what to expect so she can be as prepared as she possibly.

Outside the classroom, my fellow Speech and Hearing Science major is very involved on campus! Due to her interest in working with children with Autism Spectrum disorders, she joined the Autism Speaks student organization. I am also thrilled to say that Elizabeth is a member of NSSLHA, the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, a club that is near and dear to my heart as I am its secretary. It is a phenomenal resource for future SLPs and audiologist for everything from guest speakers from the field to simply making friends and getting advice! Last but not least, Elizabeth is an ACE! She explained that she choose ACES due to her interest in Education.

However, amazingly our similarities do not stop there! Elizabeth is also involved with Cru, a Christian Organization on campus that I am in as well! Elizabeth is in the process of auditioning for the Cru worship band. She hopes to get involved with the Cru band or an acapella group as she has been very involved with singing her entire life. She was in her school’s choir, her church’s band, and even the Columbus Children’s choir, where she received much of her musical training.

With all of these activities, Elizabeth and I discussed the balance between academics and involvement. I was involved in a similar amount of credit hours and organizations as her last year, and I think she has achieved a reasonable happy medium. Elizabeth has enough time to focus on schoolwork, but she is also very active in student life, something that is important for graduate school.

Due to our share major and similar involvement, I have the unique opportunity to be a mentor to Elizabeth in many aspects of her college life! That being said, although we are similar in many ways, Elizabeth is truly an incredible individual, and I am very excited to see where the school year takes her!

(Questions: How did you decide on the major you have chosen? What has been your most challenging class so far and why? How do you plan to get involved on campus? What kind of involvement are you interested in on campus? What type of volunteering and involvement were you involved with in high school? Why did you choose ACES? What is your dream job and why? How will you balance academics and involvement?)

As a first year speech and hearing science major I am always looking for ways to best prepare myself for my future career goals and further my education outside of the classroom. As a member of Ohio State’s National Student Speech Language Association, I had the opportunity to not only attend the 2017 Ohio NSSLHA Conference, but help make this amazing event happen as well. I was on the administrative committee for the conference. I planned the logistics of the conference, helped purchase the necessary materials to put on the event, as well as assembled gifts and lanyards prior to the conference. In addition to my role on the administrative committee, I was also a conference group leader, leading my group of future speech language pathologists and audiologist from colleges across the state to each panel.

I not only helped put the conference on, but I also had the pleasure of attending the event and participating in all the wonderful opportunities it offered. The conference’s theme, “Keep Calm and Lead On,” emphasized the idea of career development, but also taking care of oneself. Guest speakers spoke on topics such as life and work balance as well as how to foster social intelligence for better collaboration. The event also consisted of three workshops. One of which focused on service learning and the incorporation of service dogs into therapy. The second breakout secession highlighted the importance of professionalism, especially in the face of today’s social media trends. The final session, my personal favorite, gave students the opportunity to ask a panel of graduate students question, enabling me to get insights on everything from GREs to graduate school applications, better preparing me for my future endeavors.

The NSSLHA conference was a once in a lifetime experience, and the fact that I was able to help my school host such an event was incredibly rewarding. In addition to experiencing the hard work it takes to put on a state conference, I learned more about my career goals and how to best set myself up for success. I was able to spend the day interacting with students who share the same passion as me, as well as network with professionals in the field. But more than anything, it sparked my inspiration, making me more excited than ever to pursue a career as a speech language pathologist.

Through my scholars group here at Ohio State, Advocates for Communities and Education, I have had the amazing opportunity to take place in a mentor-mentee program. Through this program, I was paired with a second year student in ACES. While many college students are given an upper classman to help them transition into college, my experience with my mentor was unique from the start. The unusual circumstances started at the beginning of the semester when I got a knock at my dorm room. I opened the door to an unfamiliar girl, explaining that she lived in this very room last year. Little did I know that a few weeks later this random girl who slept in the very bed I sleep in now would become my ACES mentor, Grace.

Grace and I truly connected right from the start. As participants of the mentorship program, we were required to meet up once the first semester, and go on one off campus excursion. What sets us apart from other mentor-mentee pairings is that we have never once treated our relationship like some sort of assignment. Although we were only required to get together once, we have gotten lunch nearly every Thursday since we met. Thursdays have now become synonymous with “lunching” with Grace as we say. This is a part of my week that I always look forward to. It is a time to unwind and just relax, forgetting about the stresses of the day. When it was time for her to interview me, another one of our assignments, she felt like she did not even need to, for we had gotten to know each other so well over the semester. Yes, Grace is a wonderful resource for any questions I may have about my new life in college. But more than that she is one of the kindness people I have ever met, and I am constantly inspired by her dedication and ambition.

Recently I had the pleasure to explore Columbus with Grace. Living well over two hours away from Columbus, I was not very familiar with the city, making for an exciting activity for me. We deiced to go to the German Village, a historic Columbus neighborhood I had always wanted to visit. When we arrived, I immediately feel in love with the brick paved streets and beautiful houses. While we were exploring we ventured into the mazes of bookshelves in the Book Loft. As an avid reader the endless rooms packed to the brim with literature was my kind of outing. We ended our wonderful fall day exploring the city I now call home with a late lunch of delicious cinnamon pancakes and hot chocolate.

I feel so lucky to have been partnered with a person as incredible as Grace. I no longer simply consider Grace my mentor or a fellow room 548 resident, but someone I can truly call my friend.

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